A California state agency proposed giving consumers the right to opt out of some businesses’ artificial intelligence and automation programs on Monday—a step toward creating new rules for AI as more companies adopt the technology to analyze consumer and employee behavior.
The proposed regulations by the California Privacy Protection Agency are specifically focused on how businesses use automated decisionmaking technology, or ADMT, to make decisions that can impact consumers’ lives, including by profiling employees and other workers, profiling consumers in public places and profiling people for behavioral advertising.
Under the proposal, a business would have to disclose how it intends to use automated decisionmaking technology so consumers can decide whether to opt out or allow the business to use their data.
Consumers would be able to choose to opt out of a business’ use of the technology unless it is needed for certain issues such as security purposes or physical safety, according to the draft.
The proposed regulations would also give consumers more access to information on how businesses use automated decisionmaking technology to profile them, such as for behavioral advertising.
The draft also recommends the board of the California Privacy Protection Agency discuss whether the rules will protect consumers’ personal information from being used to train a business’ automated decisionmaking technology to improve it.
The regulations would target businesses that use automated decisionmaking technology to profile consumers as well as employees, contractors, applicants or students, such as by using the technology to analyze their performance.
The five-member CPPA board will discuss and give feedback on the proposed regulations on December 8, and the CPPA expects to finalize the regulations and start the rulemaking process next year, according to the agency. The CPPA, which was established by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, is responsible for implementing and enforcing rules under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.
The push to regulate artificial intelligence comes as more businesses use the technology to keep track of employees or customers: Over 50% of organizations said they planned on incorporating AI and automation technology in their business this year, according to an earlier study by Deloitte. California’s proposed rules are “by far the most comprehensive and detailed set of rules in the ‘AI space,’” Ashkan Soltani, executive director of the CPPA, told TechCrunch. California has already sought to protect consumer data from being collected and sold without users’ knowledge more broadly, including through laws requiring businesses to disclose the information they collect, why they collected it, and if they share it with third parties, among other things. Those rules followed the European Union’s landmark General Data Protection Regulation, which tightened privacy laws in Europe and required tech companies to get users’ permission before collecting or using personal data.
The California Consumer Privacy Act officially takes effect today (TechCrunch)
